William Caffyn — The Surrey All-Rounder Who Would Stay in Australia, 1858

The 1863–64 Australian tour was led by George Parr and included all the leading English professionals. Caffyn's decision to stay was commercially motivated — he was offered good terms by the Melbourne CC — but its consequences for Australian cricket were enormous.

William Caffyn was born at Reigate, Surrey, in February 1828 and made his first-class debut for Surrey in 1849. Through the 1850s he was the county's most valuable professional: a consistent middle-order batsman who scored 4,957 runs at 15.84, and a right-arm medium-fast bowler who took 677 wickets at 13.07. On good pitches his batting was as elegant as anyone's in England; on difficult surfaces his bowling was economical and effective. He was selected for all three major tours of the early 1860s — North America (1859), Australia (1861–62) and Australia again (1863–64). After the 1863–64 tour he accepted an invitation to remain in Australia as a professional coach, based initially at the Melbourne Cricket Club and later in Sydney. His coaching influence extended to Charles Bannerman, the first man to score a Test century (1877), and to several other players who formed the backbone of the 1878 and 1882 Australian touring sides to England. He returned to England in 1871 and died at Reigate in 1919.